by the company he keeps...
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Posted on 09/03/2004 2:36:51 AM PDT by kattracks
When Erika Holzer and I wrote "John Kerry's Mysterious Combat "V," published at Frontpagemag.com on August 20th, we said the following (set off by the asterisks):
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The presence of the combat "V" with Kerry's Silver Star on his DD 214 raises two extremely disquieting questions. How did the unauthorized "V" get there, and why has Kerry allowed it to remain?
The first question should not be taken lightly because we are talking about possible federal crimes. We are talking about the possibility of a forged official document. We are talking, as well, about Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001, which states:[W]hoever, in any manner within the jurisdiction of the executive,
legislative, or judicial branch of the United States, knowingly and
willfully . . . makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the
same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent
statement or entry, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not
more than 5 years or both.
Was the combat "V" added by a sloppy clerk or a yeoman's typo thirty years ago? Was someone pressured or persuaded to add it? If Kerry had nothing to do with the gratuitously added combat "V," why didn't he have his DD 214 corrected when he was separated from the Navy?
Which gives rise to the second disturbing question: If Kerry was not a party to the unauthorized "V," why, for all these years, has he allowed his DD 214 to remain uncorrected and to repose on his website?
In light of the recent Swift Boat revelations and the cloud they have cast over Kerry's awards, one plausible answer is that this is yet another example of Kerry's multiple, and increasingly transparent, lies about his alleged heroics in Vietnam.
Let's hope it won't take a controversial TV spot to spark a mainstream media investigation of how candidate Kerry received an unearned "V" for valor.
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Well, it almost did.
Despite substantial efforts by the folks at FrontPage Magazine, and our own our efforts to get the word out, it has been very difficult to crack through the mainstream media's indifference and even its dishonesty.
That said, however, Fox News just reported the story on how the Navy is now investigating Kerry's medals, including his Silver Star's Combat "V" (and, probably, the puzzling three citations).
The Kerry campaign's response to the Navy's investigation has put their candidate in a box: predictably, "it's a typo," they say.
Oddly, a "typo" exaggerating the record of a man now known for his exaggerations (e.g., Cambodia, wounds, rescues, Purple Hearts etc.)
But assuming arguendo (as we lawyers say, "for the sake of argument") that it really was a typo, Kerry is now impaled on one horn of his inescapable dilemma.
As we wrote in our Frontpage article quoted above: "If Kerry was not a party to the unauthorized "V," why, for all these years, has he allowed his DD 214 to remain uncorrected and to repose on his website?"
Why, indeed?
And when a few years ago Kerry corrected his DD 214 with a DD 215, to add even more questionable medals, did he not correct the false Combat "V" on his Silver Star?
Well, perhaps he was distracted.
And maybe he was distracted back in 1970 when he signed his DD 214, and distracted again recently when he put his DD 214 on his website with the unauthorized, illegal, fake, and perhaps even criminal, Combat "V."
Henry Mark Holzer [www.henrymarkholzer.com; hank@henrymarkholzer.com], Professor Emeritus at Brooklyn Law School, specializes in federal appeals. Erika Holzer [www.erikaholzer.com] is a lawyer and novelist. They are co-authors of “Aid and Comfort”: Jane Fonda in North Vietnam.
this kind of stuff will blow right past the heads of the Sheeples.
bttttttttt
Navy Challenging Kerry's Medals
The United States Navy is challenging the authenticity of Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam War medals, in a development that could prove to be the most damaging yet to the embattled Democrat's presidential campaign.
A Navy spokesman is calling Kerry's Silver Star citation with Combat V "incorrect" as it appears on his campaign Web site, explaining in an interview with Chicago Sun-Times reporter Thomas Lipscomb that the Navy has never issued a Combat V at any time for the Silver Star.
Story Continues Below
The Navy also is questioning the listing on Kerry’s Web site of four bronze campaign stars for his service in Vietnam. The official naval record credits Kerry with just two Vietnam campaigns.
"That is sufficient for the wearing of the Vietnam Service Medal for one campaign bearing one campaign star for the additional campaign — not four," reports Lipscomb in today's New York Sun.
Kerry's campaign has repeatedly cited the Navy as the ultimate authority on the candidate's war record, saying the Navy wouldn't have awarded him medals he didn't deserve.
But with the Navy now publicly challenging Kerry's decorations, that defense has been rendered inoperative.
Noting that Kerry has refused to authorize the release of his full military records, the legal watchdog group Judicial Watch called on Kerry this week to remove any questionable citations from his Web site pending a formal investigation by the Navy.
"It is to your best interest to have your record in good order," Gen. Thomas Wilkerson, the president of the U.S. Naval Institute, told Lipscomb. "If it is wrong, you are accountable. And if you use it to advance your career, it is even more important.”
Oh boy - can you hear the whines from the RATS as this picks up steam???? Question to you military folks -- if the Navy has all of Kerry's records, why can't they release them?
More disappearing pages to follow at sKerry's website
Audio: Schwing....
Person_1: What was that?
Person_2: The sound of John Kerry's stories about his medals hitting rock bottom.
Person_1: Oh... They sounded a lot like ribbons.
Person_2: Back then, they were interchangeable.
They can't release them because of the Privacy Act. Kerry would have to sign a release form.
by the company he keeps...
Thanks terp -- but one would think the records belong to the Navy and could be seen -- but there I go again being logical!
For example you probable have medical records that your doctor holds for you at his office. These records actual belong to him but he can't release them to the public because this would violate your privacy. The same principle applies to Kerry's service and medical records.
Well, to be fair, I just looked at the awards & decorations part of my own DD 214 and it's a run-on mishmash of acronyms and abbreviations that's pretty confusing. So it's possible Kerry just didn't know what his own DD 214 said.
But all I was concerned with was that I received an Honorable Discharge and that the dates for my enlistment were correct so that I would receive the correct retirement pay. I just didn't want to waste time having the Personnel Department make the corrections.
This may have been the case with Kerry but once he decided to run for public office he most certainly should have had the DD 214 corrected and he knows it.
I have one question about the unauthorized combat "V".
Did Kerry ever wear the ribbon with the "V" installed?????
Do we have any photos of him wearing all his ribbons on his uniform?
Note to Brinkley: Hope the loss of whatever reputation you had left was worth it.
Thanks again Terp - I hadn't tought of it in the light and you are correct.
Oh come on. There is not, and to my knowledge never has been a V to a Silver Star. How can his record be exaggerated by an award that did not exist? Kerry didn't type the DD214 himself. Otherwise he might have typoed in a Navy Cross or something.
Doesn't the military tell recipients of these medals/citations that it's the service member himself/herself who is responsible for checking the accuracy of the paperwork and ensuring any inaccuracies are corrected?
KERRY ON BOORDA http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1201190/posts Every member discharged from the service is asked to review their DD214 for accuracy. It's your last chance to get the record straight.
Yes, and you have no idea how tired military members get with the services ducking their responsibility for getting the paperwork right. After a while, most military members just shrug and say "if they're happy, I'm happy."
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